GECs
Life’s OK digitally
When Harvard wizkid Mark Zuckerberg launched facebook in 2004, he never imagined it would ignite a revolution in terms of the way people communicate and share information.
Indeed, social networks have emerged as the next big thing after email and the Internet, and not just individuals and communities but even our television channels are happily jumping onto them for bettering their ‘connect‘ with the audience.
After demystifying the digital strategies of Sony Entertainment Television, Star Plus, Colorsand Zee TV, indiantelevision.com trains its lens on the endeavours of Life OK – Star India‘s sister channel – in this space.
For starters, Life OK‘s Facebook page boasts 1,293,603 likes and more than 63,600 people talking about it simultaneously.
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We also have efficient partners that understand the nuances of social media engagement and help spread marketing ideas across digital and social platforms, says Ajit Thakur
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The page is kept up-to-speed with pictures, videos, polls and all the hot gossip, and shares links with the official pages of various shows aired on the channel.
In a day and age when 140-character tweets more than news make headlines, the plots of Life OK‘s many soaps are also tweaked through fan tweets. The official twitter handle of the channel @LifeOKTV is abuzz with nearly 20,840 tweets from over 16,555 followers at the time of writing. With instant reactions and feedback the staple of twitter, Life OK makes the most of this platform with timely tweets and re-tweets.
To cite an example, the channel created, #ThePerfectBachelor, for its upcoming reality show The Bachelorette India – Mere Khayalon Ki Mallika and garnered more than seven million impressions. So much so, the hash tag found its way to the numero uno spot on India trends, that too within half an hour of the beginning of the contest. It was only the second Indian show to trend for 21 hours.
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#ThePerfectBachelor hash tag garnered more than seven million impressions
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Life OK is aware that for a general entertainment channel, video uploads draw the most traffic. And so, it launched its official YouTube channel in December 2011, and has since uploaded 5,000-odd videos. Viewers can watch the latest episodes of top-rated properties like Mahadev, Shapath andSavdhaan among others.
To top it all is Life OK‘s official website http://www.lifeok.com/. As the channel‘s mainstay, the website aims to use all its other platforms to draw more and more traffic.
It is easily the hub of Life OK‘s online activities with web exclusive content including live streaming, picture gallery, video uploads, show trivia and a concert section. There‘s also the shows schedule for those who want to know what time their favourite show will be telecast during the day.
Says Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur: “Social media platforms are a great place to directly engage and interact with consumers. The idea is to leverage the various platforms to drive engagement and increase affinity towards our content. We also provide additional content specific to digital platforms for users who have supported us, or in facebook terms, ‘liked‘ us.”
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The official Facebook page keeps its page up-to-date with pictures, videos, latest buzz and polls
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This is not to say Life OK‘s engagement with its audience stops at social platforms. “We are constantly trying to connect with our audiences, be it through dialogue on social media platforms or sneak previews of our content. With every show and channel marketing campaign, our digital spends supplement the print and TV mentions, thus creating a 360 degree surround across media,” provides Thakur.
A shining example of the channel‘s 360-degree approach is the way it created the Laajo Ki Diary blog on four platforms including wordpress, blogspot, tumblr and Rediff before the launch of its show Gustakh Dil. The blog gets updated with new posts on a day-to-day basis, keeping viewers abreast of what‘s happening on it.
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The website is decked up with web exclusive content including live streaming, picture gallery, video uploads, show trivia and a concert section
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But how does the channel promote its online presence? “We have a dedicated digital content and marketing team, who focus their energies on creating interesting content for the digital audience. We also have efficient partners that understand the nuances of social media engagement and help spread marketing ideas across digital and social platforms,” replies Thakur.
Just in case you‘re wondering which platform gets the most traction, Thakur isn‘t very helpful. “Each platform delivers a specific objective while facebook is a great place for fans to engage with us, consume rich media content and share with friends; twitter being much more time-sensitive, helps create buzz about relevant topics and shows at the right time. YouTube on the other hand is a great platform for users to sample our content (mostly short form content) and also drives digital monetisation,” he says.
Well, talk about the channel being omnipresent in the digital space…
GECs
ZEEL overhauls sales structure to chase growth across TV and digital platforms
New structure sharpens digital push as viewing habits fragment fast
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is reshuffling its sales playbook as it looks to keep pace with a fast-changing media landscape, where audiences are scattered, screens are multiplying and advertisers are following the data.
According to media reports, the rejig is anchored in the company’s push to build a more integrated, data-led monetisation engine, one that can straddle both traditional television and fast-growing digital platforms with equal ease.
At the heart of the move is a reworked sales architecture designed to deliver cross-platform solutions. With connected TV gaining ground and digital consumption surging, ZEEL is aligning its teams to move quicker, think broader and sell smarter.
The restructuring is being led by chief operating officer, advertisement revenue, Sandeep Mehrotra, at a time when the company says it is seeing tremendous growth. The idea is simple: match the right talent to the right opportunity in a market that is anything but static.
As part of the overhaul, several long-serving executives have been elevated to chief sales officer roles across regions and content clusters. Sanjoy Chatterjee will head the east market, while Gunjarav Nayak takes charge of the west along with high-margin verticals such as hmg, brand works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will oversee bengaluru and chennai markets alongside the kannada and tamil clusters.
In other key moves, Divjyot Dhanda will lead hyderabad and kochi markets and manage zee tv, zee keralam and the telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a diverse portfolio including Zee Marathi, &tv, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biskope.
The company is also strengthening its bench, appointing national sales heads across retail, regional clusters, digital and brand solutions. Ankur Kapila’s appointment to lead digital sales signals a sharper push into a segment that continues to outpace traditional formats.
Behind the scenes, dedicated strategy and operations roles have been carved out for both linear and digital businesses. Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar will take on key responsibilities to ensure the new structure runs with precision.
The broader aim is clear. ZEEL wants a bigger slice of advertising budgets that are steadily drifting towards digital and connected TV ecosystems. By integrating its offerings, the company hopes to deepen client relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
The new structure takes effect immediately, with Mehrotra continuing to report to chief executive officer Punit Goenka and steer the company’s advertising revenue strategy. Senior executive Laxmi Shetty will support the transition, with her revised role expected to be announced soon.
In a market where content is everywhere but attention is scarce, ZEEL’s latest move is less about rearranging the org chart and more about staying in the game.
